Étude in B-flat minor, Op. 8 No. 11

Alexander Scriabin (1,872–1,915)

First published: 1895
Key: B-flat minor
Style: Studies
Level: Diploma
Roughly: RCM ARCT · ABRSM ARSM · Trinity ATCL · Henle 7
Lesson: D.3 Keep figuration below a singing line
Musicianship: D.3 A singing line
Focus: Cantabile projection above repeated inner chords; legato melodic octaves without locking the hand; differentiated layered attacks; dotted and implicit-triplet rhythmic independence; controlled chromatic harmonic shifts and the B-major colour excursion; soft release and continuity through the complete quiet ending.

What its lesson teaches

D.3 Keep figuration below a singing line

Prepare Scriabin’s Étude in B-flat minor, Op. 8 No. 11. Keep the repeated-chord accompaniment, inner chords and left-hand octaves, below the long singing line, separate the surface figuration from its harmonic direction, and test pedal against the harmonic changes rather than one depth for every figure. The C-major voicing warm-up trains the same balance in an easy key; then bring it to B-flat minor.

Ideas: Character and expression terms
Voicing and balance
Theory cards: Pedal and finger layers
Reducing counterpoint
Technique: B-flat harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together

Edition and licence

Score: Edition: none named by the encoder

Encoding source: https://github.com/ksnortum/scriabin-opus-8 (etude-op8-no11-individual.ly), engraved by Knute Snortum

Checked bar by bar against IMSLP #309417 (M. P. Belaieff, Leipzig, plate 1180), 2026-10-28: every bar compared; 6 bars corrected (bars 1, 2, 9, 10, 19 and 21); the printed tempo Andante cantabile, M.M. ♩ = 63 added; the encoder's playback tempo changes removed; 'cresc.' and 'dim.' written as printed instead of hairpins (bars 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 26 and 28); a missing accidental read as in the parallel bar (bar 18). · CC BY-SA 4.0

Étude in B-flat minor, Op. 8 No. 11

Edition: none named by the encoder

README: This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (Knute Snortum); attribute to Knute Snortum

Source: https://github.com/ksnortum/scriabin-opus-8/blob/5861cc5b721a47c9c247cc603dd5871353376ab1/scriabin-opus-8/etude-op8-no11-individual.ly

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice. This adapted score is shared under the same licence; the app exports it as MusicXML.

The other lesson pieces of Diploma

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 857 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 859 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57, Frédéric Chopin
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 867 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 4 (Op. 142 No. 4) — complete, Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen, in E major, Ludwig van Beethoven
Mallorca (Barcarola), Op. 202, Isaac Albéniz
Sonatine, M.40 — I. Modéré, Maurice Ravel
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2, Johannes Brahms
Étude in G major, Op. 40 No. 1, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: I. Allegro con brio, Ludwig van Beethoven

Practise all 157 lessons at your piano

In Musalea each lesson runs step by step, and after every run the app tells you what to fix: the bar, the hand and how to practise it.

14 practice days · everything unlocked · no card